After being convicted of criminal charges related to the death of a pit bull named Hershey, the mayor of Maywood is mounting an unusual two-pronged defense as he tries to avoid jail time.

First, Ramon Medina claims, he didn’t own the dog. The mayor also insists the prosecutors had it out for him because of his ethnicity, according to a motion filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“Since he announced his candidacy in 2015, Mr. Medina has been the subject of a relentless harassment campaign by Los Angeles County authorities, all with the common theme of disparaging the good name of a Mexican American mayor on the brink of realizing his personal American Dream,” reads the motion, which asks for dismissal of Medina’s conviction.

Medina is the mayor of the tiny, Southeast Los Angeles County city that has been rife with dysfunction for years.